| Fortunately for us, the members of the royal and noble | | | | the animal existed today, would be a |
| families of Spain were particularly attached to dogs, | | | | glamorous-looking, long-haired Italian greyhound. One |
| especially toy dogs. Many of the famous painters of | | | | has to wonder, however, did this dog truly exist during |
| the time painted family portraits which included their | | | | that time or was this only in the mind of the painter. |
| dogs. Works by Velasquez, Murillo and Goya in | | | | The Italian greyhound was a favorite at court in both |
| particular painted portraits of royal families and their | | | | Spain and Italy centuries ago and appears frequently in |
| dogs, many of them being, "toy dogs." | | | | paintings in the Prado. It has been noted that much to |
| The walls of Prado in Madrid are covered by portrait | | | | one's surprise in one case the Italian Greyhound is |
| after portrait of dogs and their families or just dogs | | | | painted with its ears cropped. This was quite unusual. |
| alone beautifully painted. Anyone very interested in | | | | Pugs looked fine with their ears cropped, but the Italian |
| dogs would certainly enjoy the experience of | | | | Greyhound with cropped ears? Once again I have to |
| surveying the walls of Prado. | | | | wonder if maybe some of these models of dogs in |
| Numerous dogs have served as models for sculpture | | | | these famous paintings are just from the minds of the |
| of all sorts as well. | | | | creator of the painting and not dogs that truly existed |
| The Prado has one of the best collections of art in the | | | | during their times. On the other hand, it could have |
| world. The fine paintings are not Spanish, nor are they | | | | been just an exceptional case and not the norm of |
| paintings of the Spanish scene or family. The walls of | | | | that particular era. I have not personally seen this |
| Prado tell a story of European history in picture form. | | | | picture, have only read about others seeing it, but I |
| One typical example is a portrait painted by Jan | | | | have to admit the Italian greyhound would look every |
| Brueghel de Velours. The painting is of the interior of a | | | | strange with its ears shortened. |
| collector's room, painted in 1617. The artist included a | | | | It has been said that one of the most attractive |
| tiny toy spaniel confronting a monkey in the foreground | | | | paintings of an Italian greyhound was of one that |
| of the painting. | | | | appears in the portrait 'The Earl of Northampton' by |
| In this same painting there is a small white woolly dog | | | | Pompeo Battoni in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. |
| which could be a bichon or a Maltese terrier sitting | | | | He was a large size for his period in the mid-eighteenth |
| quietly underneath a table just watching what is going | | | | century. At this time the Italian Greyhound was really |
| on but taking no part. HOW CUTE! | | | | miniaturized. The portrait is said to be of a beautiful |
| Artists have always been the recorders of their own | | | | specimen, with all the elegance and grace of the |
| times. The artists tell us something about the dogs that | | | | breed. |
| are still with us as well as about those that appear to | | | | This series: "Toy Dogs in Art" continues in Part II. |
| have been lost to us today. In one of Tiziano's paintings | | | | This article is FREE to publish with the resource box. |
| done earlier than de Velours, he included a dog that if | | | | |